The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
| Up close and personal with Leah Goodman Posted: 23 Dec 2011 09:09 PM PST STICKABILITY that's the one word that comes to Leah Goodman's mind when she embarks on something, be it personal or professional. The word, or philosophy, rather, was instilled by Goodman's mother when she was growing up in her native country of Australia. Today, it's become her recipe for success as she spearheads operations for pharmaceutical firm Sanofi Aventis in three countries Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. "Stickability is a word that my mum often used. She said that if you're starting something, you need to finish it," she tells StarBizWeek, as she reminisces about her experience with ballet when "sticking" to something could not have been more challenging! "My parents had this rule where if I wanted to do something, such as ballet, I had to do it for two years. Even though in the second year I hated it, I still had to stick with it," the bubbly Goodman says with a laugh. Goodman however says that she is a little bit more flexible with her kids, although the "finish what you've started" practice does seem to be a deeply-rooted family motto. ● Full story in StarBizWeek today. If you have a similar story to share e-mail us at inspired@thestar.com.my Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 23 Dec 2011 09:02 PM PST HAVE you ever tried shopping for a 24 carat diamond? No? Never? Me neither. Ever since I wrote about replacing the diamond with 24 roses to celebrate my wedding anniversary, my wife's sisters-in-arms have bombarded me with messages of disbelief calling me stingy, kedekut and unloving. They could not understand how her sacrifice of staying married to a guy like me was not worth at least a carat a year. I was stumped. How do you value a relationship? From our marriage, my wife already owns 50% of everything that I own. Well... almost. In addition, she claims that her money is her money and my money is also her money. By the rule of the law and not by choice, I am actually generous to my wife to the point of being broke. How do you value a business relationship? As an entrepreneur, you are always in partnership with somebody. Different valuations for different partnerships. Partnership of convenience. Partnership of necessity. Partnership of greed. Partnership is like marriage. Exciting moments of romance. Virgin wedding nights. Painful mutual discoveries. Then zombie existence. Partners till death do you part. In heavy losses or in share of heavenly profits. Married partnerships are basically husband and wife teams or couples of the same sex. Like Batman and Robin, one personality should be more dominating than the other. Even better if their personalities complement each other. In my case, I do all the talking and my better half do all the work. That's great team work. There are great debates over the merits of husband and wife working together in the same company. It's a no no if both are employees. It is just too complicated for everyone in the company. However, as owners and entrepreneurs, a husband and wife team can be quite successful. As long as the wife can soothe the guy's ego and the husband can patiently listen to the day's woes. If it works, it is just good chemistry. That's all there is to it. No magic formulas and no marriage counselling required. I have seen some entrepreneur couples end up in divorce. Great teamwork, high profile and very successful in building their business. They just drift apart as individuals or because of mid-life infidelity. When the couple becomes successful, the wife will tend to spend lavishly on herself, to keep herself looking young and well accessorised. The husband will spend lavishly on the other younger women to keep himself feeling young and well satisfied. Broken business and broken families. Friends in partnerships brings back fond memories. Back in the 80s, it was trendy for a group of 10 friends to invest RM10,000 each to open a pub. Since everyone loves to drink, it makes sense to open their own pub where everyone knows your name. Business was good as all the partners brought in their friends and acted like proud owners, bought drinks for everyone. Only problem was, payment was signed on 555 notebook, not on credit card slips. Soon, the pub ran out of cash and the poor hired manager was blamed for weak and irresponsible management by all the partners. Doing business with friends have probably given me the most difficult moments. Over the years, I have lost a friend or two when I had to make a tough call. It is even more difficult when family members are involved. On hind sight, I should have been more transparent with them. The gweilo approach of being upfront with your expectations and having clear defined roles and responsibilities will prevent any misunderstanding in the future. Nothing personal. Strictly business. As an entrepreneur, you are always evaluating options on partnership issues. Is it better to have partners or to go it alone? If you go public, you will have to answer to hundreds or thousands of partner shareholders. Are you up to it? If you are on your own, you only answer to yourself. This is my ideal entrepreneurship model. But if you need financing or certain set skills, then you will have to engage in a partnership of necessity. There will be an increased element of uncertainty as now you not only have to grow the business but you have to learn how to manage other shareholder expectations. Learn to leave your ego outside when you walk into the meeting room. You are only as good as your last financial year. Partnership of convenience is normally short term in nature. Team up, make money then split up. Until the next opportunity comes along. This partnership works particularly well if all partners have mutual trust and are contented with their fair share of spoils. In times of global and political uncertainty, this approach reduces risk in addition to a quicker turnaround return on investment. Who would have thought that PAS and DAP will engage in a partnership of convenience? With ideologies poles apart, they have mutual distrust and like all politicians, are never contented with their fair share of spoils. Sniffing the possibility of more success, they are now engaged in a partnership of necessity. Which makes them look like an odd couple. Throw in PKR and we now have a mish mash offering of rojak to the poor suffering voters. With a GE 13 menu of either rojak or Barisan's nasi campur minus the beef, voters will have to make a choice. Chances are, the poor rakyat will go hungry for another 5 years. While the partners of greed continue to feast upon the wealth of the nation. Santa Claus is indeed coming to town. The season of giving has just started. To all entrepreneurs, Merry Christmas. The writer is an entrepreneur who hopes to shares his experience and insights with readers who want to take that giant leap into business but are not sure if they should. Email him at thtan@alliancecosmetics.com Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 23 Dec 2011 08:44 PM PST Title: You, Inc. YOU are a brand. It doesn't matter if you work for someone or you've just set up shop and are hoping to make it big; you've got something to sell yourself. This is the premise that Harry Beckwith and Christine K. Clifford explore in their book You, Inc: The Art of Selling Yourself. "Living is selling," says the first sub-heading of the first chapter. While most of us do have a socially inculcated dislike for salespeople (we imagine them as smooth-talking, advantage-taking individuals), we forget that all of us have been "selling" things from when we were still children. It doesn't matter what age one is. Beckwith and Clifford write that when we were children, we created "sales pitches" to convince our parents to take us to an amusement park or to buy us a toy we've been eyeing. And then we grow up and we use the "sales" knowledge we learned as children to write college applications and ace job interviews. Beckwith and Clifford claim that "life is a sale" and that "the path to success at both living and selling is the same". After reading You, Inc., I'm ready to buy that concept. The book is divided into chapters ranging from what people buy to tips and tactics on how to sell it to them. Those chapters are further divided into shorter portions and with each portion presenting only a single point, You, Inc. is an extremely easy read. An interesting thing is that this book began as three different books. Clifford was writing a book on sales called How to Make $1 Million in Sales ($3 Million Before Taxes). Beckwith, meanwhile, was working on two books Seat Belts and Twin Airbag, a guidebook for those taking their first steps into the "Real World" and Who Moved My Salad Fork?, a book on manners. This makes a lot of sense seeing as You, Inc. not only teaches how to sell; it also includes lessons on how to treat people and other seemingly small matters that could turn out to be catalysts in achieving one's goals. Both Clifford and Beckwith are acclaimed speakers and consultants and in this book, they give lessons based on their vast experience. One of the book's plus points is that in its early stages, it was conceived for their sons who were about to begin their careers. With the way the book is written snippets with summations in bold it could easily be a compilation of advice from a parent to a child. Unlike most self-help books, this one doesn't place utmost importance on goal setting. While it recognises the importance of goals, it also reminds one that it's not just the goal reaching that's important. The lessons we learn along the way are the point of setting goals in the first place. Of course, parts of it are common knowledge among marketing and advertising folks. "What is your story?" asks Beckwith and Clifford. "Find your story, tell it well," they summate. This is an old branding concept but what's new about what they're saying is that it doesn't just apply to products; it applies to people as well. Especially amusing is the part on "Tricks and Shortcuts". According to the authors of You, Inc., "there are none". And that's the last we hear of that. As someone extremely interested in absorbing new information, I like that the book touches on lifelong education. "Keep reading, keep listening, keep learning," the couple wrote. Unlike the Asian mindset that our education has to contribute to our career, Beckwith and Clifford wrote about how education expands our minds. While we may think that education is limited to the things we learn in classrooms, this is far from what the authors had in mind. They write about how learning about other things outside of our fields of work can make us more attractive to potential employers, clients or colleagues. By knowing more, we are able to strike up engaging conversations. And that makes selling a whole lot easier. At times, I found myself recalling Sun Tzu's The Art of War, especially when I read seemingly cryptic lines like "cultivate your mastery, but cultivate the rest of you". In this example, the quote means that while your skills may be important, your personal traits are just as important as well so work on improving them. As intended, this book teaches how to sell, provides tips on how to survive in the "Real World" and teaches some basic etiquette "don't be late", "show up", "look people in the eye." Some of the points mentioned did prick at my conscience and I found myself nodding along and drumming into my own head that I need to do this or make sure I do that in the future. Although no longer a fresh graduate, the lessons given by You, Inc. are still applicable to me. For those looking to learn new things, this book is a quick and informative read. Because the print is large and the vocabulary kept simple, it's easy to sneak read the little snippets in the book. The summations at the end of each section also make it easy to grasp the ponts within the text. Overall, You, Inc. is a good book but it's not something that's worth re-reading. It's something that I may beg, borrow or steal but I doubt I would buy. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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